Fastening device



Aug. 4, 1936, A; L. LE PAGE FASTENING DEVICE Filed March 16, 1935 .rl .lllllllllllllll wlfrhmhlvh nltndrf :5 J

INVENTOR fideri'ile e.- BY

ATTORNEYS Patented Aug. 4, 1936 UNITED STATES ras'mmc navrcs Albert L. Le Page, Waterbury. Conm, asaignor to Scovill Manufacturing Company, Waterbury, 001111., a corporation of Connecticut Application March 18, 1985, Serial No. 11,888

9 Claims. (01. 24-245) This invention relates to fastening devices, particularly to fastening devices of the clasp type intended for use as garment supporters and has for an object the provision of improvements in 5 this art.

The fastening device according to the present invention is of the type in which a metal member having oppositely disposed projections is passed, together with a portion of the fabric to be supl ported, through the aperture of a female member to secure the fabric over'the projections and between the adjacent faces of the male and female members. It embodies features which make it easier to fasten to the garments to be supported,

15 give it an improved appearance and makev it inexpensive to manufacture. The further objects and features of novelty of the present invention will appear from the following description and the accompanying drawing of a specific embodizo ment thereof, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a front elevation showing the device supporting a stocking;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. l;

as Fig. 3 is a perspective view showing the parts dissociated from each other;

Fig. 4 is a rear elevation of the parts disconnected from each other; and

Fig. 5 is a vertical section taken on the line 80 I5 of Fig. 4.

Referring to the drawing, the device comprises two mating parts A and B, the first of which is a male member and the second a female member.

The male member A is formed with a relatively 35 long shank In with means at its upper endhere an opening I I-forming a bar at the top for securing it to an anchorage such as a supporting strap i2, and means at its lower end-here a head i3-adapted to interlock with a mating part of 40 the female member B.

The female member is relatively short and formed with an interlocking opening ll therein of such size as to permit the mating parts of the member A by proper manipulation to be passed 45 through it with a portion of a fabric garment such as a stocking lb.

The entire pull imposed by the supported garment is transmitted through the shank of the male member and its anchrage strap l2, so that so the female member may functionally be required only to secure the fabric upon the male member and hence need only comprise a loop; but it is desirable to secure the female member in the assembly near the male member in order that it will 55 not be misplaced and will readily suggest to the user by its position the manner in which it is to be manipulated to engage the male member. For this purpose a retaining member may be provided. The retaining member should allow ample movement of the female member. It may consist 6 of a flexible strap I6, preferably of fiat material.

The female member at its upper end is provided with means for attaching it to the flexible strap i8. As herein shown the female member is provided with a tongue l1 bent back from the 10 upper edge of the opening ll toward the under surface of the member. One end of the strap I8 is engaged and held between the tongue I! and the top of the female member, there being means, for example roughening i8, on the inside of the 16 bend to hold the strap fast. The roughening may consist of dents or projections formed on either or both of the adjacent portions of metal. Preferably they are placed as far from the bend as posslble in order to grip the strap even if it should 20 inadvertently not be placed all the way into the bend during assembly. 7

The other end of the strap l 6 is secured in any suitable manner and at any suitable place to the assembly. It has sufllcient slack either by inherent elasticity of material or by adequate length of material to permit it to cooperate properly with the male member. The strap I6 does not take any part of the pull imposed by the supported garment. A convenient way of securing the strap i8 to the assembly is to pass it in a 100p over the upper end of the shank of the male member and attach it to the back of the male member. In this way the rear face of the male member, which will usually be made of metal, may in part be covered so that no metal can touch the wearer. The strap may be passed through an aperture at the upper end of the male member, for example, through an enlargement Ila of the opening i I which receives the supporting strap l2. The end of the strap I6 may be secured, as illustrated, beneath a tongue I! struck out from the upper end of the male member in forming the opening lid and bent down upon the back of the male member. If desired, the interior of the bend may be provided with means for holding the strap. Part, at least, of such holding means may consist of roughening elements 20 formed on the tongue or adjacent portion of the male member or both. As in the case of the corresponding strap-engaging portions of the female member, the roughening may be placed near the outer end of the bend for the same purpose.

The head portion if of the male member comprises oppositely extending projections 2| 22 which are offset in front of the plane of the shank Ill. The upper surfaces of the projections lie in substantially the same plane, which plane is approximately parallel to the plane of the shank ID. The lower projection or hook 2| in the present embodiment is formed by making a reverse bend in the material and the upper projection 22 is formed as an integral continuation of the upper element of the bend. By this construction the head of the male member is made to present a broad fiat surface on its upper or outer side which gives it an attractive appearance, provides space for designs if desired and disposes the fabric of the supported garment in a way to avoid undue strains thereon. The upper projection 22 forms the end extremity of the head of the male member. Preferably the two thicknesses of material in the bend at the lower end of the head are pressed tightly together so as to form a relatively thin end to provide easy threading of the female member thereover in interlocking the parts upon a garment. The projections 2|, 22 are of considerable width so as to present broad smooth surfaces to the supported fabric whereby to avoid concentration of strains therein.

A portion of the shank IU of the male member may be offset toward the rear as at 23 beneath the upper projection 22 to provide additional space for the fabric. By making the upper projection 22 of a single thickness of material the space therebeneath is further increased. This also adds to the appearance and feel of thinness and flatness of the device in use since this rearwardly offset portion will embed itself in the flesh of the wearer without any discomfort. Besides it makes a slightly better alignment of strain in the device since thereby the female member which clamps the fabric to the back of the projections 2|, 22is placed substantially in the plane of the opening ll of the male member which receives the supporting strap l2. The ends of the offset portion 23 are tapered to avoid sharp edges and to enable them to cooperate with the female member for the easy separation of the parts, as will be described hereinbelow.

Preferably the male and female members are both formed of thin sheet material and the sharp edges are removed by thorough tumbling operations or otherwise.

The width of the interlocking opening I of the female member B is made somewhat greater than the greatest width of the head [3 of the male member A in order that the head may readily pass through the opening during the association and disassociation of the parts. The lower edge of the opening I may be made still wider to take any fabric material which may tend to bunch therein.

The lower end of the female member is extended to form a tab 24 to assist in the manipulation of the parts. The parts may be assembled on a garment by placing the male member behind the garment and holding it with one hand while pushing the female member with a portion of the garment of the fabric over the head, of the male member with the other hand. The female mem her is threaded first over the lower projection 2| and catches in the crotch behind the upper projection 22. The length of the opening I4 is less than the distance from the end of the lower projection 2| to the point of engagement of the upper edge of the opening behind the upper projection 22. The female member in use is always pulled down into the crotch so as to prevent disassociation of the parts. The tab 24 normally projects below the end of the lower projection 2| so as to be readily engaged by the. hand in releasing the parts. They may be released simply by pushing upward on the tab, the tension of the garment serving to throw theupper edge of the female member over the upper projection 22 of the male member.

The entire surfaces of the members may be coated with a covering of enamel or paint to hide the metal and improve the appearance of the device. Preferably also the head of the male member is covered with a friction material such as a coating 26 of rubber. This adds to the appearance and helps to hold the garment in place while the female member is being assembled to fasten the garment and afterwards. Both of the coatings may be applied by dipping. The rubber coating is of considerable thickness to resist wear and may be applied by several dippings.

If desired the upper end of the rubber covering may extend some distance up the shank of the male member. In any case, by the dipping process it will form a complete close-fitting envelope as far up as it extends. If it extends a suflicient distance up the shank it will be caught beneath the tongue l9 when this is later bent to engage the end of the strap Hi. This will assist in holding the strap and will also hold the upper edge of the rubber coating in position should the bond between the rubber and the member be broken. When the rubber covers the entire shank of the male member up to the strap IE it assures complete coverage of all metal parts which might touch the wearer. g

The rear surface of the rubber covering and the rear surface of the strap l6 lie in approximately the same plane, due to the offset shank portion 23, so as to present a broad fiat surface to the wearer.

When a relatively thick rubber covering is applied the advantage of having only a single thickness of material in the upper projection 22 of the male member becomes apparent. There are two thicknesses of rubber in this crotch to be accommodated so it is well to have as much space as possible for the fabric and the female member.

-The present construction provides this with the minimum thickness in the head. The upper projection is placed forward by approximately one thickness whereas if the bend were made in an upward direction there would be two layers of material in the upper projection and the lower layer would be closer to the shank of the member lying therebeneath. By fastening the strap l6 near the upper end of the male member instead of at the head the thickness of the head is permitted to be less than it would be otherwise.

From the above description it will be seen that the present fastener is simple and inexpensive to manufacture; is thin and neat in appearance; furnishes extensive surfaces for engaging the supported fabric whereby tearing and distortion thereof are avoided; holds the fabric securely and increases its hold as the tension of the fabric increases, the friction material also serving to prevent slipping: presents a broad flat comfortable surface to the wearer; requires only a small angular movement for its engagement and disengagement; and in general constitutes a distinct advance in the art. The fastener has 7 i While one embodiment of the invention has been described in detail, it will be understood that the invention may have various embodiments within the scope of the subjoined claims.

I claim:-

1. A fastening device comprising in combination, a male member including a shank having means at its upper end for supporting it and tak-. ing the supporting pull imposed on the device, oppositely extending aligned integral interlocking projections on the lower end ofsaid shank, connecting means supporting said projections in a plane parallel to and in front of the plane of said shank, a female member provided with an interlocking opening adapted to pass over said projections, said projections on the male member formed by an extension of the shank thereof, the lower projection being formed by a reverse bend of the material at the lower end of the shank and the upper projection being formed by a terminal extension of the upper layer of material in said bend.

2. A fastening device comprising in combination, a male member including a shank having means at its upper end for supporting it and taking the supporting pull imposed on the device, interlocking parts on the male member including oppositely extending parallel projections which are aligned with and disposed in front of the shank, a female member adapted to cooperate with the interlocking parts on the male member, a strap attached to the female member and passing from the front to the rear side of the male member near its upper end, and means adjacent the upper end of the male member for clamping the strap thereto.

3. A fastening device asset forth in claim 2 in which said strap-attaching means includes a tongue struck out from and bent down upon the male member.

4. A fastening device comprising in combination; a male member including a shank having an interlocking head at its lower end and supporting means at its upper end, a female member adapted to cooperate with the male member, a strap attaching the female member to the male member, the strap passing from front to back of the male member, the shank of said male member being rearwardly offset intermediate its length, and means on the rear face of the male member substantially aligned in its rear fact with said offset portion for securing said tape to the male member.

5. A device as set forth in claim 4 in which said tape covers the rear surface of the tape-securing means on the male member.

6. A fastening device comprising in combination, a male member, including a shank, means at the upper end of the shank for supporting the member, and an interlocking head at its lower end, said head comprising flat aligned oppositely extending projections aligned with the shank and adapted to be engaged on the flat face and edges by a fabric, a friction material entirely covering the head of said male member, and a female member cooperating with the head of the male member and adapted to engage the fabric against the under surface of said projections.

7. A device as set forth in claim 6 in which said projections are formed as bent up extensions of said shank, the lower projection being formed by a reverse bend of the material and the upper projection being formedas an extension of the upper layer of the lower projection.

8. A fastening device comprising in combination, a male member including a shank having means at its upper end for supporting it and taking the supporting pull imposed on the device, interlocking means on the lower end of the male member, a female member adapted to cooperate with the male member, a flexible device securing the female member to the male member, means at the upper end and on the rear face of the male member for anchoring the flexible member, said flexible member covering the rear surface of the attaching means, and a non-metallic material covering the rear surface of said male member below that part covered by the flexible member.

9. A device as set forth in claim 8 in which said means for anchoring the flexible member also secures the upper end of the non-metallic material.

ALBERT L. LE PAGE. 

